September Album: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for

We celebrated Labor Day weekend with my sister and her family, which, by “we”, I mean, my 3 kids and I.  We spent a lot of the weekend watching a Star Wars marathon.  My children are officially hooked.  And I guess I am too.

Other highlights included: preserving Fredericksburg peach jam, hiking around Garden of the Gods, late-night viewing of the Food Network’s  “Chopped” with my sis, and attending the Air Force game on college football opening day. 

The only thing about the game that fascinated Dean was the other team’s drums.  South Dakota’s band let him have a closer look as they were lining up.  Such friendly folks!

Playing at the Garden of the Gods.

   

Can’t catch Fi!

Me and Leo.

My nephews and niece.

Our visit was an entire week – I’m sure that was long enough for all parties, but my sister and I could probably have visited some more.  Sans kiddos.  Time for another Girl’s Weekend? 

July Album: The days are just packed

In case my anonymous readers are unfamiliar with the title, it refers to Dean’s newly acquired interest in Matthew’s old Calvin and Hobbes’ books – and it rings true in our case.  My, oh my.  July was quite some time ago!!!  It’s rather busy in our little house – and inside the fort that Matthew just finished constructing outside – so, I’m far behind on blog posts.  (See the reason why I don’t post.)  A few great things happened this month: 

1. Ayme, Matthew’s sister came to visit us and help us take care of Leo.  We had many, many adventures such as picking berries and visiting the zoo.  And we read lots of stories.  Aunt Ayme has an endless amount of energy for reading books (unless it’s the Berenstein Bears and she’s in the back of the van…)

    

2.  Leo turned four months old! 

He has mastered rolling onto his tummy, and he even started to become mobile with scooting, wiggling and rolling.  Our new rule in the living room is:  No small toys!  Leo’s world is expanding with all of his movement.   


Luckily, Dean and Fiona love to play with all of Leo’s toys, and Leo loves to watch his brother and sister.

He has also recently grown fond of his fingers.  Such a cutie pie!

3.  Dean and Fiona started having a great summer.

 
Now I have to geek out and wear my urban designer hat for a moment.  Remember this amazing park from last December’s album?  The same but completely different and incredible playspace transformed for summer (just add water).  In this case, the setting for a five-year old’s birthday party.  Nice.
 

4.  We returned to the Oregon Dunes for a family vacation!

Last summer, we spent some time out at the Heceta Beach with dear friends of ours, who, sadly, live on the other side of the country.  This year, we wanted to share the experience with our friends Scott and Jenn and their three kiddos.  Vacations are so much better with friends.
Of course, to kick the whole thing off, we stopped over at the Oregon Aquarium in Newport.
We walked through the ‘Shark Tunnel’ and we felt sea anenomes and sea stars in the touch pool.  So awesome!

We even took our friends back to the Hobbit Trail – which couldn’t be found if it weren’t for my previous blog post and my iphone.  Oh technology.
These were beautiful days at the beach.  To be clear, the water was startlingly frigid – this is no Gulf of Mexico.  But try to convince my Oregonian kids that the water was too cold for swimming!  (My husband didn’t need convincing…)





Our children had a blast!  Here’s a quiet moment of eating cantaloupe before dinner…

We took sunset walks to the beach.
   
We also visited the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area.  So much sand, so many dunes - this landscape was sublime.  It was perfect for rolling down the hills and well.. simply frolicking.  The backdrop is a wooded upland forest and the might Pacific Ocean beyond.  Incredible.


On the way home, we stopped for a picnic in Lincoln City which happened to be celebrating a kite festival. 


Exuberance!

May Album: Oklahoma to Oregon

My May album is a little behind – for reasons cited previously.  What a month it was!  We left Texas after my birthday for a brief visit to Oklahoma with Matt’s parents (Oma and Papa) and his sister (Aunt Ayme!).  We had a great time at the Oklahoma City Zoo and the Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma.  We even got to visit with Great Grandma Lillard and Great Aunt Netha.  What a treat!

Finally, we flew back home!  We spent most of the month trying not to think about the fact that we were back in 60-degree, wet weather.

At the end of the month, we drove out to Farewell Bend State Park to meet my sister, Gina, and her family.  We had a nice afternoon at the park, and they graciously brought us some furniture for the kids (my childhood twin bed frames).  They are moving from Salt Lake City to Colorado Springs, which is much further away from us – boo…  Sadly, we won’t be picking blueberries together this summer in Oregon, as we have for the past couple of years!  I will miss our frequent visits.

  

   

Camp Wood

Before I blog more adventures with the Woods in Portland, I have to share the news of Dean's journey to Camp Wood.  When Gina offered to take Dean back to Salt Lake City for two weeks, and Matt and I hemmed and hawed it over... Dean, without any hesitation whatsoever, began packing his bags!  Dean loves his cousins!  Two weeks will be a long time without him, but that is when my grandparents will arrive in Salt Lake City, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to visit.  Yes, I have already bought my tickets to bring him back home.

Here are pictures that Gina shared with me the first day, one from a McDonald's on their very long road trip (12 hours!), and one from the next day, Dean showing off his "silly face".  We have been talking on the phone every day, and today, even Fiona spoke with him: "Hi, Dean!"

I am a little off-balance, and the house is a bit empty.  But what an adventure he will have with his cousins at Camp Wood...

tillamook and cape meares

My lovely sister, Gina, and her three children came to visit us for a whirlwind four days!  Our first adventure was to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, the lighthouse at Cape Meares, and Oceanside for some rock-skipping and being chased by the waves.  This is my new favorite day trip:

 

where our cheese is made… 

ice cream made the perfect lunch!  Oregon strawberry, marionberry, Tillamook mudslide, black cherry, rocky road, and caramel pecan.  mmmmmmmm

For dessert, we sampled some cheese.  Our favorite, by far: garlic chili pepper cheddar cheese.

Cape Meares lighthouse:

beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean:

    

playing at the beach: